The Tree of Life Is an AROMA

7/22/2023

“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 2:14-17)

May it be so, wherever we go, whatever we do, and to whomever is near us, believer or unbeliever: The word picture is of the Roman “Triumph”—a parade for and with the victorious Roman army to celebrate a conquest of an enemy. The diffusion of the aroma of flowers strewn on the road for the celebration, as the horses prance over them, is the picture of our aroma in the streets of the character of Jesus, diffusing into the world as flowers diffuse sweet aroma—and tell a story of beauty, even without a word sometimes. “Tree of Life” is an AROMA, not an argument necessarily, inside of us or to others. :-)